Larry Catá Backer's comments on current issues in transnational law and policy. These essays focus on the constitution of regulatory communities (political, economic, and religious) as they manage their constituencies and the conflicts between them. The context is globalization. This is an academic field-free zone: expect to travel "without documents" through the sometimes strongly guarded boundaries of international relations, constitutional, international, comparative, and corporate law.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

And the Response From Cuba on Senator Rubio's Hearings on the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack: "Cuba es un país seguro, pacífico y saludable" ("Cuba is a safe, peaceful and healthy country")

The Cuban authorities have quickly responded to the hearings conducted by Senator Rubio, "Attacks on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba: Response and Oversight," in his role as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues (Reporting on that here). It comes as no surprise that the Cuban authorities took the opportunity not merely to denounce the hearings, and Senator Rubio, but also to make their case that they were neither involved in any purported attack nor that the attacks in fact took place. Josefina Vidal, the director General of the Cuban Foreign Ministry's U.S. desk denounced the hearings as irresponsible.

This Post includes the responses in English and Spanish as reported in official and media sources cited above (in English and Spanish). We have reached a point in the public battle over control of the narrative of the Affair of the Sonic Weapons Attack where both sides have now put forward allthe evidence they are willing to share, and both sides have more finely tuned their line. It is now time for more action. And from the indications by Senator Rubio's committee that action will come from the investigative committee of the U.S. Department of State. The story continues.

HAVANA TIMES – The Cuban government questioned today the validity of the hearing held in the United States Senate on Tuesday over the alleged acoustic attacks on US diplomats in Havana, and restated its denial of having any responsibility in the events, reported dpa news.

“The true purpose of this hearing was not to establish the truth, but to impose by force and without any evidence an accusation that they have not been able to demonstrate,” said Josefina Vidal, director of the United States desk of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the alleged attacks, whose origin is unknown and according to Washington happened between the end of 2016 and August 2017.

Todd Brown, Deputy Director of Diplomatic Security at the State Department, said that in addition to the possibility of an acoustic or sonic attack, US researchers are considering the possibility of someone infecting the victims with a virus.

“The acoustic symptoms could be part of another attack,” Brown said. “There is a virus, there is an ultrasound, and there are a variety of things that the technical experts are looking at.”

The official did not offer more details or evidence in his testimony at the hearing that was chaired by Republican Senator Marco Rubio, one of the politicians most critical of the softened Cuba policy promoted by former President Barack Obama.

“The State Department has no evidence that allows it to affirm there were attacks against its diplomats in Havana, nor that Cuba may be responsible or have knowledge of third-party actions,” Vidal said at a press conference.

The Cuban official pointed out that “on the contrary, months of exhaustive investigation have shown that there was no attack”.

A few days ago, an FBI report was leaked to US media, according to which no evidence of an acoustic attack has been found.

The United States claims that since November 2016, 24 diplomats stationed in Cuba and relatives suffered attacks of unknown origin that caused symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, hearing loss, among others.

Cuban experts who investigated the US accusations ruled out the acoustic attack because it would have caused an extremely loud noise in the neighborhood where the diplomatic residences are located, something that did not happen.

Statements to the press by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs General Director for the United States, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, in response to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere hearing regarding alleged “sonic attacks” on U.S. diplomatic personnel in Havana

This morning, January 9, a hearing was held in the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, organized by Republican Senator for Florida Marco Rubio and co-chaired by New Jersey Democrat Senator Robert Menendez, both with a vast record of work against better relations between Cuba and the United States, and the promoters of all kinds of legislative and political proposals that affect the interests of the Cuban and American peoples, and only benefit an increasingly isolated minority that has historically profited from attacks on Cuba.

From its very title “Attacks on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba,” it was evident that the true purpose of this hearing, to which three high-ranking officials of the State Department were summoned, was not to establish the truth, but to impose by force and without any evidence an accusation that they have not been able to prove.

No one is surprised by the unfounded accusations or the fabrications of these anti-Cuban senators, whose only political agenda over the years has been to bring our countries to confrontation, regardless of the consequences. Their total lack of scruples and credibility is renowned. The great victim of today’s hearing has been the truth.

For the Cuban government, the irresponsible statements made at the hearing by the Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Department of State, Francisco Palmieri, are unacceptable.

The Director of the Bureau of Medical Services at the State Department, Dr. Charles Rosenfarb, said there are a multitude of symptoms that are not attributable to a specific cause and that there is a lack of certainty about the causal agent. The Assistant Director for International Programs of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Todd Brown, said experts have not been able to identify the cause or perpetrator. And Mr. Palmieri repeatedly used the term attacks. It became clear that this is an unfounded accusation against Cuba.

The State Department does not have any evidence that allows it to affirm that there have been attacks against its diplomats in Havana, or that Cuba may be responsible, or have knowledge of the actions of third parties.

On the contrary, months of exhaustive investigations have demonstrated that there have been no attacks.

I categorically reiterate that the Cuban government has no responsibility whatsoever for the health conditions reported by U.S. diplomats. Cuba never has, and never will, perpetrate such acts, nor has it or will it permit third parties to act against the physical integrity of any diplomat, without exception. The Cuban government is aware of its responsibilities and fulfils them exemplarily.

Once again I affirm that the investigation carried out by Cuban authorities, the results of which the State Department and specialized agencies of the United States have had ample and systematic access to, has shown that there is no evidence at all regarding the occurrence of the alleged incidents and no attack of any kind has occurred.

Nothing presented by the government of the United States throughout this period, including today, provides evidence that the health problems reported by its diplomats have their origin or cause in Cuba.

We reject the politicization of this matter and the unjustified measures adopted by the United States government, with a high cost for our population, Cuban émigrés and the U.S. people.

We also condemn the political manipulation of these events by anti-Cuban elements, who seek to aggravate the bilateral atmosphere, with the sole purpose of returning to a an era of confrontation, with negative consequences for both countries and the region.

Cuba is a safe, peaceful and healthy country for Cubans, for foreigners, for accredited diplomats and for the millions of people who visit us every year, including U.S.

Washington.– Following months of investigations and four visits to the island the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has uncovered no evidence of the alleged “sonic attacks” against U.S. diplomatic personnel in Cuba, according to a January 8 article by Associated Press (AP).

In the article AP cites an unreleased interim report from the bureau’s Operational Technology Division, dated January 4.

According to the news outlet, “The probe has uncovered no evidence that sound waves could have damaged the Americans’ health.”

The results of the FBI investigation coincide with those of the Committee of Cuban experts after senior government officials ordered a thorough investigation into the alleged incidents.

Ever since reports of health issue related to U.S. personnel emerged the Cuban government has categorically stated that its territory has never, nor will it ever, be used to harm accredited diplomatic personnel on the island or their families.

Despite a lack of clarity surrounding the case, Washington took unilateral steps withdrawing the majority of its diplomats from the island - practically paralyzing the visa processing system in Havana - and demanding the withdrawal of 17 Cuban officials from the island’s embassy in Washington.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking to AP, confirmed that the U.S. government has no plans to send its diplomats back to Havana because the United States would be “putting people intentionally in harm’s way.”

Likewise, Florida Senator Marco Rubio – who has been trying to manipulate the case to reverse the few advances made in bilateral relations between the two countries - is set to hold a Senate hearing on the alleged attacks this January 9.

However, Jeff Flake, also a Republican Senator, speaking in Havana January 6 stated that there is no reason to doubt the Cuban government’s position, adding that there is no evidence of the involvement of the Cuban government in any of the reports he has seen.

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Globalization: Law and Policy will include an integrated bodyof scholarship that critically addresses key issues and theoretical debates in comparative and transnational law. Volumes in the series will focus on the consequential effects of globalization, including emerging frameworks and processes for the internationalization, legal harmonization, juridification and democratization of law among increasingly connected political, economic, religious, cultural, ethnic and other functionally differentiated governance communities. This series is intended as a resource for scholars, students, policy makers and civil society actors, and will include a balance of theoretical and policy studies in single-authored volumes and collections of original essays.

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I hope you enjoy these essays. Each treats aspects of the relationship between law, broadly understood, and human organization. My essays are about government and governance, based on the following assumptions: Humans organize themselves in all sorts of ways. We bind ourselves to organization by all sorts of instruments. Law has been deployed to elaborate differences between economic organizations (principally corporations, partnerships and other entities), political organization (the state, supra-national, international, and non-governmental organizations), religious, ethnic and family organization. I am not convinced that these separations, now sometimes blindly embraced, are particularly useful. This skepticism serves as the foundation of the essays here. My thanks to Arianna Backer for research assistance.